Monday, February 24, 2014

-Dedicated to Civil War episodes, battles, people and ships
that also appear in my game, GMT’s Rebel
Raiders on the High Seas.

February 24, 1864 – No CSS Stonewall
for the South

Historical
Event: On this date 150 years ago
the French government intervened to halt the transfer to the Confederacy of the
ocean-going ironclad ram under construction at the port
of Bordeaux. The nearly 1,400-ton warship, which was to
have been commissioned as CSS
Stonewall, was instead ordered sold to the Danish government. Confederate agents, however, convinced the
Danish buyers to secretly sell the vessel back to the South, and the “Yankee
Nightmare” as it was dubbed at the time was commissioned into the Confederate
States Navy in January 1865. Although
the Union warships USS Niagara and USS
Sacramento shadowed her as she slipped into a Spanish port in late
March and then headed across the Atlantic to Havana, by the time she reached
Cuba the war was over. The CSS
Stonewall never fired a shot on behalf of the South – although she went
on to become the pride of the Japanese fleet, first as the Kotetsu, and finally as the Azuma.

Game Connection: The mighty ocean-going ironclad ram CSS
Stonewall is represented in Rebel Raiders by a unique counter
and CSN Card 74. The intervention by the French government
that prevented her from getting into the war in time to fight is also
represented in the game by USN Card 55 –
Diplomatic Pressure. The Confederate
player normally builds his Raiders (of which the CSS
Stonewall is one of the most powerful in the game) overseas. They are placed there during the Build Phase,
which gives the Union player time to either set up some warships to prepare to
intercept them when they come out or, if USN
Card 55 is available, to either have them seized or forced out of port into
the waiting arms (and guns) of Yankee men-o-war.

Sunday, February 16, 2014

-Dedicated to Civil War episodes, battles, people and ships
that also appear in my game, GMT’s Rebel
Raiders on the High Seas.

February 17, 1864 – Rebel Submarine Hunley Sinks Union Housatonic

Historical
Event: On February 17, 1864 the Confederate submarine CSS
Hunley attacked and sank the Union screw sloop USS Housatonic in Charleston
harbor. This earned the USS
Housatonic the dubious distinction of being the first warship ever sunk
by a submarine. Unfortunately for the
crew of the CSS
Hunley, they did not live to celebrate their victory, as the tiny
vessel was dragged to the bottom as the warship went down. The wreck of the CSS
Hunley was found on the seaward side of the sunken sloop. Evidence suggests
that the spar torpedo used to sink the Union vessel detonated while still
attached to the submarine, and that the concussion from the blast may have
knocked Lt. Dixon and his seven submariners unconscious – sending them into a
slumber from which they never awoke.

The Union warship was not chosen at random. She was one of the most powerful, formidable
and successful vessels in the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron. In January 1863, for example, the USS
Housatonic captured the famous blockade runner Princess Royal as it
attempted to enter Charleston. The Confederates sent two ironclads out of
the port to try to save the Princess Royal, which was carrying
what was then described as “the war’s most important single cargo of
contraband” – engines and armor for a new ironclad that was to be built in the
city. They were driven back by the
firepower of the USS Housatonic’s mighty guns, which included a 100-pound Parrot
and an 11-inch Dahlgren.

Game Connection: The CSS
Hunley, which proved deadly to over 20 sailors during her sea trials
and one and only combat voyage is represented in Rebel Raiders on the High Seas
by CSN
Card 73. Her partner in death,
the USS
Housatonic, is represented by USN Card 27. The Union vessel is definitely one worth
sinking, as it is especially good at intercepting the Blockade Runners upon
whom the South – and the Southern Player in Rebel Raiders – depends.

Friday, February 14, 2014

Sherman’s Fiery Valentine – Burning Meridan, Feb. 14,
1864

-Dedicated to Civil War episodes, battles, people and ships
that also appear in my game, GMT’s Rebel
Raiders on the High Seas.

February 14, 1864 – Sherman Burns Meriden

Historical
Event: On February 14, 1864General William Tecumseh
Sherman brushed aside the ineffectual and heavily outnumbered Confederate
forces of General Leonidas Polk to capture the rail depot at Meridan,
Mississippi. For nearly a week Sherman
and his men worked to tear up track, destroy rolling stock, torch warehouses
and arsenals and wreck anything of military value. Sherman
was, however, convinced to retire to Vicksburg
when a reinforcing column under General William Smith coming out of Memphis
was ambushed and sent packing a week later by Rebel cavalry led by General
Nathan Bedford Forrest.

Game Connection: The city of Meridan is
depicted on the Rebel Raiders map; while its loss is not as painful to the
South as is the capture of major cities and ports by the Union,
its loss will cost the South a few victory points. More important, it is the
bridge between Vicksburg and Montgomery,
andMeridan is thus an important
stepping stone for any Northern drive from the Mississippi
into the heart of the Confederacy. Both Sherman
and Forrest are represented in the
game, by USN Card 50 and CSN Card 85 – “That Devil Forrest.”

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Happy Birthday, Mr. Lincoln

February 12, 1864 was anything but a happy birthday for Abraham Lincoln. As he turned 55, the President had the weight of the world upon his broad and now slightly stooped shoulders. The heady victories of the summer of 1863 were but distant memories in the winter of 1864. With Confederate commerce raiders driving Union shipping from the seas, and Southern armies continuing to frustrate Union advances into Georgia and Virginia, there was still no end in sight to the conflict that was bleeding the nation white.

Abraham Lincoln is a presence in my strategic Civil War naval game, Rebel Raiders on the High Seas. The Union player is, arguably, as much Lincoln as the Confederate player is Jefferson Davis. Lincoln is represented in the Emancipation Proclamation Rule and in Confederate Card 97 - Lincoln and His Generals (which the Southern side may play to force the Union to discard one of the cards that represent Generals Grant, Sherman or Sheridan following a Yankee defeat in combat).

Friday, February 7, 2014

-Dedicated to Civil War episodes, battles, people and ships
that also appear in my game, GMT’s Rebel
Raiders on the High Seas.

February 7, 1864
– Admiral Dahlgren Attacks Jacksonville

Historical
Event: On February 7, 1864Admiral
John Dahlgren and five powerful Union warships supported the landing at Jacksonville
by General Truman Seymour and 7,000 Union troops. The admiral’s stated purpose was
three-fold: to close the port to
Blockade Runners, to free and recruit Black men for the army and navy, and to
“engineer Florida’s return” to
the Union.

The troops were borne up the St.
John’sRiver by USS Ottawa and USS Norwich. The USS Mahaska, USS Water Witch and USS Dai
Ching escorted and provided fire support for the operation. The Union move
would culminate in the Battle
of Olustee, a railroad depot 50 miles
southwest of Jacksonville. There on February 20 Confederate General
Joseph Finnegan and his 5,000 men thoroughly defeated the Union,
forcing Seymour to retire upon Jacksonville
– thus ending the campaign to “engineer Florida’s
return” to the Union.

Game Connection:Admiral
John Dahlgren is represented in Rebel Raiders on the High Seas by USN Card 31 – John Dahlgren. Due
to the scale of the map, Jacksonville
itself is not individually represented, but is included in the St.
Augustine site. The USS Ottawa was an Unadilla-class
“90 Day Gunboat;” the lead vessel for
which that class is named is represented by USN Card 17 – USS Unadilla.

Union amphibious assaults on Confederate ports are a major
part of the Northern player’s strategy, allowing the Federals to turn the sea
into a front line, from which to strike the Confederacy. Naval forces must be present to allow the
army to land, as they must clear the port
of Confederate warship and can duel
with any Confederate defending the port. Taking ports not only reduces places
for Blockade Runners to unload cargo, but also hurts Confederate production –
and moves the North one step closer to restoring the Union.

About Me

Mark G. McLaughlin is a Connecticut-based freelance journalist and game designer with over 30 years of experience as a ghostwriter and columnist. An author whose first published book was Battles of the American Civil War, Mark continues to be enthralled by history, wargames, and science fiction.